Rahman Gharib

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5. Building Pressure, Enforcing Compliance

The United Nations has escalated its focus on journalist killings, declaring that unpunished attacks against journalists are a major threat not only to press freedom, but also to all major areas of the U.N.’s work. In recent years, it has adopted two resolutions addressing journalists’ safety and impunity and launched a plan of action. These have come on top of existing Security Council Resolution 1738, which condemns attacks against journalists in conflict. “There must be no impunity for those who target journalists for violence,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proclaimed in a statement in the run-up to World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2014.

In the stairwell between the newsroom and studios of Nalia
Radio and Television (NRT) stand a charred monitor, a burnt vision mixer, and
smashed camera lens. They make up a display of equipment damaged when armed men
set fire to the station in Sulaymaniyah, a city in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan
which is home to much of the Kurdish media.

Iraqi Kurdistan may seem calm compared with much of the
Middle East, but the media are vulnerable whenever internal political tensions
flare. Amid impunity for anti-press attacks, including murder and arson,
journalists say they must self-censor on topics like religion, social
inequality, and corruption associated with powerful officials. A CPJ special report by Namo Abdulla